Hanoi Agrees to Resumption of Refugee Program

Vietnam has agreed to allow more Vietnamese refugees to leave for the United States under a program halted last year, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Bangkok said Thursday.

However, the Vietnamese did not agree to discuss the resumption of a resettlement program for thousands of Amerasian children fathered by Americans during the Vietnam War, she said.

The spokeswoman, who requested anonymity according to embassy regulations, said Vietnamese officials agreed to resume the Orderly Departure Program in talks in Hanoi with Bruce Beardsley, the U.S. head of the program.

About 30 countries have resettled more than 125,000 Vietnamese under the U.N.-sponsored program. Roughly half of them have gone to the United States.

Hanoi halted U.S. processing of applicants for the program on Jan. 1, 1986, complaining that Washington had interviewed thousands of people it had not yet moved out of Vietnam.

More Interviews Soon

“We consider the talks to be successful,” the embassy spokeswoman said. “The Vietnamese have agreed to allow resumption of interviews for applicants. We expect to begin interviews again in the not too distant future.”

The United States also has resettled several thousand Amerasian children under the program. An estimated 7,000 to 10,000 Amerasians remain in Vietnam.

Washington and Hanoi agreed last November to hold talks on establishing a new, separate program for resettling Amerasians. But the Vietnamese again declined to discuss the issue when Beardsley raised it this week, the embassy spokeswoman said.

“The Vietnamese have not yet agreed to meet with us to discuss the departure of Amerasians, although we are hopeful they will agree to such discussions in the near future,” the spokeswoman said.